But on Thursday, state media said he had "expressed condolences on the death of old party comrade Huang Rong", who died on September 6 -- a day after Xi missed a planned meeting with Clinton.

The report in the Guangxi Daily newspaper -- mouthpiece of the Communist Party committee in China's southern Guangxi region -- marked the first public communication by Xi since he delivered a speech on September 1.

There's still no official explanation as to why Xi had been absent from his previous public appearances.